Fr. Dave Pivonka

Catholic Identity Top Priority for New College Presidents

As students get settled in during these first few weeks on campus, new Catholic college presidents are adjusting too. I recently spoke to three who stand out in their commitment to faithful Catholic education.

Continue reading at the Catholic Herald…

Where is Newman’s University?

John Henry Cardinal Newman’s vision of higher education has been celebrated for more than 160 years, and it will hopefully get renewed attention after he is canonized this Sunday, Oct. 13.

Still, few colleges today closely resemble his Idea of a University.

If anything comes close to Newman’s vision today, it would have to be those faithful Catholic colleges recognized in The Newman Guide and the National Catholic Register’s College Guide. These are models for the renewal of Catholic education—largely according to Newman’s vision—and their continued efforts toward bringing his “idea” to fruition are a blessing to the entire Church.

I look forward to seeing many representatives of these colleges in Rome this week. Celebrating together with The Cardinal Newman Society’s supporters and friends will be leaders of Christendom College, Thomas Aquinas College and University of Mary, and key faculty members from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts and University of Dallas. We will gather also with friends from the faithful Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and Pontifical North American College.

The students and faculty of Belmont Abbey College got a head start on celebrating last week, with a lecture by Dr. Paul Griffiths. They gathered to rejoice in Newman’s sainthood, but also to embrace his vision for an academic and residential community shared by both students and mentors.

“Newman was deeply formed by his own experience as a student and as a professor,” Griffiths said. Newman expected tutors to be involved in students’ “moral and spiritual” formation and intellectual growth, in addition to students’ engagement with university lecturers and preachers.

On the same Thursday evening as the Abbey lecture, The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., held a conference on “Newman’s Idea of a University—What It Is and Why It Matters.” The event included a panel discussion with President John Garvey and professors from a variety of disciplines, highlighting Newman’s concern for dialogue and integration across a wide variety of studies.

A Catholic college unites “intellect and virtue, which man’s fallen nature has allowed to drift apart,” Garvey wrote in a 2010 article in First Things. He cited one of Newman’s university sermons:

It will not satisfy me, what satisfies so many, to have two independent systems, intellectual and religious, going at once side by side, by a sort of division of labour, and only accidentally brought together. …I want the same roof to contain both the intellectual and moral discipline. Devotion is not a sort of finish given to the sciences; nor is science a sort of feather in the cap… an ornament and set-off to devotion. I want the intellectual layman to be religious, and the devout ecclesiastic to be intellectual.

Although Newman is often associated with Catholic centers on secular campuses, he was primarily an advocate for Catholic, liberal arts education. The first “Newman Society” was established at Oxford University for Catholics seeking a higher education, only after the Irish bishops thwarted Newman’s plans for a truly Catholic Dublin university and the English bishops rejected his designs for an Oxford Oratory.

For Newman, only a Catholic college has full claim to authentic higher education, because a commitment to truth means that no branch of knowledge can be excluded, including the truths of our Catholic faith. To “withdraw Theology” from colleges is to “impair the completeness and to invalidate the trustworthiness of all that is actually taught in them,” Newman wrote in his Idea of a University.

Higher learning “educates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it,” Newman wrote. The “cultivation of the intellect” is “an end which may reasonably be pursued for its own sake.” It helps form a “habit of mind” which “lasts through life” and brings “freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom.”

This type of education ends up being practical, too, although that is not its first objective. Cardinal Avery Dulles explained Newman’s thought during a 2001 address to The Cardinal Newman Society: “Whether one becomes a soldier, a statesman, a lawyer, or a physician, one will need the ability to think clearly, to organize one’s knowledge, and to articulate one’s ideas so as to deal effectively with the questions at hand.”

Newman saw in Catholic education “the incomparable advantage” over secular education of “being able to integrate all truth in relation to Christ, the incarnate Logos,” Dulles said.

At Newman Guide colleges, the difference is striking—and encouraging for a Catholic who is yearning for renewal in the Church and culture. At Christendom College, the entire community has been invited to join in a novena praying for “an outpouring of grace in the world” through Newman’s canonization, several faculty lectures on Newman’s conversion and Idea of a University, and a “watch party” on Oct. 13 to celebrate the canonization from afar. It is this integration of spirituality, academics and joy in God and his creation that marks a true Catholic education.

Faithful Catholic colleges that strive for intellectual and spiritual formation and not simply career preparation are the true heirs of Newman’s vision for higher education. May his vision continue to take hold worldwide, and may Catholic educators everywhere pray for his intercession in asking God’s favor upon the renewal of faithful Catholic education.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Swaffords ‘Paying it Forward’ After Faithful Catholic Education

Swafford family

The Swafford Family

Today Dr. Andrew Swafford teaches students the same theology course that inspired him to convert to the Catholic Church years ago. He and his wife, founder of Emotional Virtue Ministries, are grateful for their life-changing experiences at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan.

They both graduated from the Newman Guide-recommended college and say that their experience at Benedictine transformed their “entire vision for the future — most especially dating, marriage, and raising children.” The couple recently welcomed their fifth child.

Today, Dr. Swafford is an associate professor of theology at Benedictine. He is the author of several books, host of Ascension Press’s newest Bible study series on “Romans: the Gospel of Salvation” and a contributor to the Great Adventure Catholic Bible and a new book on the sacraments.

Sarah is a popular national speaker to teens and young adults on “Emotional Virtue,” dating and relationships, and interior confidence. Her ministry had its beginnings at Benedictine College and has since impacted the lives of countless young people.

We are grateful to the Swaffords for telling their story of the faithful Catholic education that they received.

Newman Society: Dr. Swafford, can you share about your conversion experience while a student at Benedictine College? 

Dr. Andrew Swafford
Dr. Andrew Swafford

Dr. Swafford: I came to Benedictine as a student for one reason, namely, to play football. My first season went well—I made the travel roster as a freshman, as well as the more limited 48-man playoff roster, though I certainly could tell even at that point something was missing.

In May after my freshman season, we played an exhibition game in Paris, France. At the time, I really didn’t want to go—I wanted to get home to Ohio in order to train for the upcoming season (that was my frame of reference then). In the game, however, I broke my fibula in France. My world was crushed.

Earlier that semester I had happened to have had two theology classes with Dr. [Edward] Sri that spring (just before I broke my leg). I was intrigued intellectually, but not ready to change my life yet. Over the summer (after my broken leg), what had intrigued me intellectually began to move from my head to my heart.

When we came back to school, I went out to lunch with Dr. Sri. I had all sorts of questions for him. Over this conversation, he suggested I consider adding his class called “Christian Moral Life,” which at the time was full, but he thought he could get me in. I had decided to redshirt that upcoming football season, after not having been able to train all summer. Consequently, I had more time and went ahead and added the class, bringing my course load up to 20 hours.

That class singlehandedly changed my life. I thought it would be about “rules” of the Church and the Bible; I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was about freedom, friendship, virtue, happiness—all of sudden I could see why I wasn’t happy.

About this time, I also got involved with FOCUS and noticed that those guys had a certain stability, joy and peace I didn’t have—and it was because they knew Jesus. By the end of that fall semester of my sophomore year, I was ready to go all-in with Jesus and the Catholic faith. That set me on the journey I’m on today. In fact, I now teach the same class that changed my life so many years ago—”Christian Moral Life”!

Sarah transferred into Benedictine the following year. I look back fondly at God’s work in preparing me to meet her, since she only knew me “post-conversion.”

Newman Society: Sarah, why did you decide to transfer to Benedictine College? How has your education impacted you?

Sarah Swafford
Sarah Swafford

Sarah Swafford: I went to play basketball at a Catholic college in Iowa, and I came to find out that not all Catholic colleges are created equal. I longed for authentic Catholic fellowship and an environment in which I could go deeper in my faith, both in prayer and fellowship as well as intellectually.

At Benedictine, I discovered the riches of real Catholic friendship, with both women and men. And I received my deepest spiritual and intellectual formation here and really found my mission in life—to know Jesus and bring others to him.

The fact that my husband and I both had this common formation has been so important. We’ve always been on the exact same page, which has paid massive dividends in terms of raising our kids, but also for our marriage and ministering together to others, such as our current Benedictine students.

Newman Society: Sarah, your work on “emotional virtue” has become a very popular resource for young people. How did working at Benedictine College help shape this work?

Sarah Swafford: My ministry certainly has its roots in the formation I received as an undergraduate at Benedictine, but it really was birthed in my time as a Resident Hall Director—where I was the “dorm mom,” so to speak, of a 142 freshman women. Watching them transition from high school to college, I kept giving the same advice over and over again.

Eventually, one of the girls suggested I give a talk on “all this”—namely, the repeated advice I kept giving. To my surprise, some 300 women showed up that night, and in truth, my ministry took a life of its own from there. Men and women were hungry, and they latched on to the idea of someone guiding them through the waters of dating and life with social media. Drawing from my formation at Benedictine, I see myself as just paying it forward.

Jason Evert

Jason Evert: Faithful College ‘Opened Doors’ for Chastity Ministry

More than one million people on six continents have heard about the virtue of chastity, because of the wonderful Chastity Project, led by Jason and Crystalina Evert.

The catalyst for the entire ministry? Jason’s experience at a faithful Catholic college.

“Franciscan University of Steubenville prepared me for the ministry God entrusted us with and opened the doors for the ministry to become possible,” says Evert.

“I don’t know where I’d be today, or if our ministry would even exist, if I hadn’t attended Franciscan University,” he continues. Franciscan is a faithful Catholic college recommended in The Newman Guide.

The Chastity Project is all about helping young people see that “chastity is the virtue that frees us to love.” The Project educates young people about the truth of human sexuality and tackles topics like dating, birth control, homosexuality and pornography.

Evert and his wife have given more than 3,000 talks to high school and college students about the virtue of chastity, but he still remembers his first talk, during a spring break mission trip in college. After that, one thing was clear: “I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” says Evert.

During college, Evert was active with leading mission trips, retreats off campus and sidewalk counseling outside of abortion clinics. The catalyst for Evert’s ministry “wasn’t just what I was learning in theology class, but was also through the ministry work that Franciscan University made possible” for students.

Students hear the truth “with their ears in the classroom, they see it with their eyes on campus and they are given opportunities to deliver it with their words through missionary work,” explains Evert. “There were many ways that the authentic faith was being presented on campus.”

He remembers going to Eucharistic Adoration around 1:00 in the morning on a weekend and seeing one of his theology professors in the chapel. “That was more memorable than anything I learned in his class, and I learned a great deal in his class!” says Evert. The witness of seeing your “teacher sitting at the feet of the Master” is powerful.

At Franciscan University, “faith wasn’t just something that you learned,” he continues. “At a normal state university and many Catholic universities, you need to go out of your way to find Godly students. At solid universities like those recommended in The Newman Guide, you have to go out of your way to find students who aren’t pursuing God.”

Today, Evert is seeing some of the fruits of the 21 years he’s devoted to this ministry: young men and women who filled out chastity commitment cards as teens and saved them for their spouses, men who have broken free from pornography and are living out their marriage vows, and families who have stopped contracepting and are filled with joy as they build their families. But Evert’s not slowing down. He has written 15 books and is currently working on another to teach young men about love, relationships and especially dating.

Through his work with Crystalina to help young people, Evert is often asked for college search advice as he travels the country. “College is a big investment. To spend four years of your life and your life’s savings to debate with a disbelieving professor may not be the best investment,” he advises.

Attending Franciscan University was “one of the best decisions I ever made in my life,” says Evert. “I knew that was where God wanted me to be.”

“At every high school we go to, we encourage the guidance counselors to use The Newman Guide to help students find their college,” Evert says.

“It’s one thing to receive an hour-long chastity talk, but if you have a guidance counselor who can point you to the right university for the four years, that’s going to do more good than one motivational speech.”

John Henry Newman

To Restore Integrity: Newman’s Idea of Education

Over the course of his lifetime, John Henry Newman was many things: scholar, reformer, preacher, convert, theologian, priest, and cardinal. Through it all, however, he was an educator. Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks to heart”) was his motto, and he believed strongly that “personal influence” is the best means of teaching the truths of our Catholic faith.

“Speaking from heart to heart” was so much his manner that students at Oxford and later Dublin’s Catholic University would flock to hear his sermons. His guidance inspired the high-school boys at the Oratory School in Birmingham, England, including Hilaire Belloc. And Newman met personally with parents to forge genuine partnerships in the care of souls – an unusual practice at the time for English boarding schools.

The practical schoolmaster was also a great visionary, whose Idea of a University and University Sketches helped define the Catholic university at a time when education was splintering into diverse models and objectives. Amid many pastoral works, Newman also wrote numerous texts of devotion and theology on topics such as the Blessed Virgin Mary, development of doctrine, the role of the laity in the Church, and the nature of conscience.

It is extraordinary to find so many achievements in one man. And how do we reconcile the private Newman with the public intellectual, who eagerly battled “liberalism in religion”?

Continue reading at The Catholic Thing

Sisters of Life, Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei

Sister of Life: ‘You Will Never Regret’ Attending a Faithful Catholic College

Sister Mariae Agnus Dei of the Sisters of Life is one of many religious sisters whose vocation was nourished by faithful Catholic education.

Founded in 1991, the Sisters of Life now have more than 100 sisters serving across the country and in Canada. The sisters take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, plus a special vow to “protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life.”

The Newman Society is grateful to Sister Mariae Agnus Dei for sharing her story and testifying to the influence of the faithful Catholic education that she received.

Newman Society: Why did you choose to attend a faithful Catholic college? What role did it play in your life and your vocation?

Sister Mariae Agnus Dei: Choosing a Catholic college was a poignant moment of grace for me. I watched older siblings go off to secular colleges and return to the home emptied of their faith, and with that, the hope and peace of a life lived with Christ. I knew I wanted something different. God did too. He placed a deep desire in my heart to find a college that not only had strong academic and athletic programs, but also a culture where I could encounter Christ and grow in my faith. He led me to the doors of The Catholic University of America [a Newman Guide-recommended institution in Washington, D.C.]. It seemed to have everything I wanted: a good nursing program, Division III athletics, and a solid commitment to integrated Catholic education and student life. I told the Lord I would go if He got me a scholarship and told Him the amount I needed. He answered promptly through an acceptance letter from the University with the offer of a scholarship that matched my prayer to the dollar. The deal was sealed, and I left the beauty of rural Maine for the urban jungle of D.C.

Looking back, I can honestly say going to Catholic University was one of the most pivotal and important decisions of my life. At Catholic University I found the Christian community, academic integrity, sacramental life and culture to irrevocably and all but entirely fall in love with God. They were beautiful years of learning and discovery — humanly, intellectually and spiritually. Whether running cross-country, engaging the deeper questions of my heart with other students at campus ministry events, attending the many cultural events at the University or in the city of D.C., diving into the well-rounded curriculum of the nursing program, or serving as a student minister, I found Christ alive and ready to be encountered in the fabric of campus life at Catholic University. Father O’Connell, the University president at the time, held a Catholic vision strong enough to create an integrated culture of faith on campus — a gift I am eternally grateful for.

Newman Society: How did you discern your vocation?

Sister Mariae Agnus Dei: My experience at Catholic University grew the generosity, trust and freedom to give God permission and surrender to His plans for my life and vocation. Who am I? What am I called to do with my love? At Catholic University I found resources to ask and answer these questions authentically and fruitfully. I discovered my life was a gift. I was good. And God had great plans for my life. A year after graduating, His call burst into my life in full color. I was working the night shift as a nurse in intensive care. As I sat down in the nurse’s station after an intense “code,” I was full of gratitude that the patient we had worked to save was now stable. The precious gift of life flooded me through and through, and I perceived a new invitation at the door of my heart. In this moment, I discovered the love of a Father — one that knew me to the depths of who I was. I held this mystery of grace in my heart and arrived home just as my roommate was waking up. She asked me how the shift went. I was surprised at my reply, “I think I have a vocation to religious life.” She paused, looked at me, and said, “Rachel, you’re tired. Go to bed.

I did so, and yet, when I awoke, the question of vocation was burning even more deeply in my heart. Shortly thereafter, I met with the diocesan vocations director. He told me to go be quiet before the Lord, pray for the grace to know the deepest desires of my heart, and pray for the grace not to be afraid of what came in answer to that question. My whole soul was filled with a peace unlike anything I had ever tasted. I went to a nearby Church for Mass, knelt and let the Holy Spirit lead my prayer. As it came time to receive the Lord in Holy Communion, I knew He was inviting me to receive Him in a new way. The veil of my heart was drawn back, and I beheld what I knew was my deepest desire — Love Himself. An invitation resounded throughout my soul with gentleness and clarity, “Consecrated life with the Sisters of Life… will you come?” I responded with a full-hearted, joy-filled, “Yes”!

I have been a Sister of Life now for 12 years and couldn’t be happier — God’s dreams for my life and my love have far exceeded my own and continue to surprise me each day. I’m overwhelmed by the joy, gift, love and beauty of this call, this “yes” to Love. I remain eternally grateful for my years at Catholic University and the incredible ways it laid a foundation to hold God’s dreams for my life.

Sisters of Life
Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei (right) with some of the Sisters of Life. Photo via Sisters of Life.

Newman Society: What advice would you give to students who are trying to make the decision about which college to attend?

Sister Mariae Agnus Dei: To those discerning colleges, all I can say is you will never regret choosing a place that is invested in forming, supporting and flourishing every dimension of your life — mind, body, heart and soul. You are uniquely created in the image of God and have a unique gift of love to give. Only a college committed to serving and revealing God’s full vision for the human person will ennoble the life and love your heart desires to live. The years you spend at college, the people you encounter, the culture in which you immerse yourself, will inevitably lay a foundation for the rest of your life. In choosing an authentically Catholic college, you will be on course to live the good life you desire and become who you were made to be.

One Word Could Erode Catholic Education

In three amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court filed last month, the bishops and Catholic educators—together with other major religious groups—urged the Court to uphold the meaning of “sex.”

It’s one little word. But if the Court gets it wrong, our religious freedom could be quickly eroded.

And while all Catholics and Catholic institutions would be endangered, there is a double threat to Catholic education: both to the integrity of its employees, and to its ability to teach young people the authentic Catholic faith.

Continue reading at Crisis Magazine…

EWTN Radio: Newman Society Discusses Recent Pew Study Findings and More

Newman Society President Patrick Reilly was recently hosted on The Good Fight with Barbara McGuigan on EWTN radio. During the first hour of the show, they discussed a number of topics, including the recent Pew Study that found that only 26 percent of U.S. Catholics under age 40 believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.

Faithful Catholic education is a key solution to restoring belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. “There are a variety of ways of teaching, the point is that teaching and formation has to happen and we cannot compromise on that, ” said Reilly.

“Every single young person who is baptized must understand the Eucharist, must love the Eucharist, must devote their life to the Eucharist. And if that’s not happening, then we are failing,” he continued.

Listen to the full recording here.

Oath of Fidelity

A New Year’s Resolution for Catholic Colleges

As the new academic year begins for students around the country, a video on Twitter caught my eye: tutors at the new East Coast campus of Thomas Aquinas College recited the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity at Convocation in front of the College’s students.

“In fulfilling the charge entrusted to me in the name of the Church, I shall hold fast to the deposit of the faith in its entirety,” the tutors proclaimed before Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Diocese of Springfield on Aug. 24. “I shall faithfully hand it on and explain it, and I shall avoid any teachings contrary to it.”

What a hopeful and profound way to begin the year!

Thomas Aquinas College, known for its academic rigor and orthodox Catholicism, is now educating students in Northfield, Massachusetts, as well as Santa Paula, California. It joins other faithful New England colleges, including Holy Apostles in Cromwell, Connecticut, Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, New Hampshire, and the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire, in bringing a renewal of Catholic faith and culture to an area of the country that is sorely in need of it.

At Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming, on Aug. 25, professors also made their annual Profession of Faith, and new professors made the Oath of Fidelity. The College has told The Cardinal Newman Society: “While we know that this is not strictly required, we wish to go beyond the minimum and demonstrate that all our Catholic faculty are committed to teaching all disciplines ad mentem ecclesiae.”

The profession and oath were made at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Steven Biegler of the Diocese of Cheyenne. He told faculty and students, “The formation of the whole person that Catholic education seeks—body and mind, heart and soul, faith and reason, seeks to form disciples who think and speak and act like Christ.”

Later that afternoon, freshman students also signaled their commitment to faithful Catholic education by signing their names in the official Student Register. “In signing this book,” Acting Dean Kyle Washut told the students, “you are making a public act of trust. You are announcing your intention to trust the Wyoming Catholic College community with your formation over the next four years. We are aware of the solemn duty imposed on us when you give us that trust, and we will honor it.”

The same day, the entire faculty of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, made the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity at a Mass of the Holy Spirit celebrated by Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington.

“I want to begin by thanking you and your gifted and talented administration and faculty for providing our students with such a sacred place to continue their education, to deepen their relationship with the Lord, and to grow in Truth and be prepared to articulate that Truth wherever the Lord sends them,” Bishop Burbidge said.

Catholic college presidents, too, are expected to recite the Oath of Fidelity according to canon law. Dr. Timothy Collins, the new president of Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio, recited the oath during the University’s Mass of the Holy Spirit on Aug. 28. Impressively, he was surrounded by members of Walsh’s founding order, the Brothers of Christian Instruction, and University Chaplain Father Thomas Cebula.

“When you think about the Oath of Fidelity, we think about it in terms of a covenant,” said Monsignor John Zuraw, the Mass celebrant and chancellor of the Diocese of Youngstown. “God has established a covenant with each and every one of us. And with any covenant, there are responsibilities. There are values that we hold deep within our very being.”

“As President Collins takes this Oath of Fidelity,” Msgr. Zuraw continued, “he takes it first and foremost to be faithful to God and all that he does and all that he will be. But this Oath of Fidelity also implies a relationship with each and every one of you… that he will do his best to lead this University with values and principles based on the Gospel.”

A public profession of our Catholic faith is an important witness to students and a comforting assurance about the type of education students will be receiving. While the Church does not require it of every professor at a Catholic college, canon law does require that every Catholic theology professor receive the mandatum from the local bishop, by which theologians promise that they will teach in accord with the Church. Often this is accomplished by a Profession of Faith or other similar measure.

Among the faithful colleges recommended in The Newman Guide, all theology professors have the required mandatum, and most take the Oath of Fidelity. Sadly we don’t see this everywhere, but there is an exciting renewal today at a growing number of Catholic colleges. Families seeking assurance of a faithful education have many good options.

Starting out this new academic year on the right foot is a very hopeful sign. Please keep Catholic educators in your prayers, that they will faithfully teach and witness to our students, preparing them to walk with Christ throughout their adult lives.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia

Dominican Sister Discerned Vocation in ‘Silence’ of College Chapels

Editor’s Note: This article is part of our new “Profiles in Faithful Catholic Education” series which features graduates of faithful Catholic schools and Newman Guide colleges who are leading the renewal of the Church. Other recent profiles can be found here and here.

For one Dominican sister, two years on a faithful Catholic college campus were just what she needed to discern her vocation to religious life.

Sister Bernadette Marie of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia in Nashville, Tenn., said that during her high school years she realized that the “secular environment of a public university” would not provide her with a “strong faith-based community.” As she explored potential colleges, her wish-list included “daily Mass, times of Adoration, and a strong community.” When she visited Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., which is recommended in The Newman Guide, she “fell in love with the Catholic environment immediately.”

During college, Sr. Bernadette Marie studied theology, education and art and became involved with many activities on campus, including intramural sports and Bible studies. She formed great friendships with her peers, who encouraged her to grow in her relationship with Christ and “become a better all-around person.” She also met professors who cared about her “spiritual and academic growth.”

“At Benedictine College, I was blessed to see many adults living their vocation to the full,” said Sr. Bernadette Marie. “I recall with fondness praying early morning rosaries with President Minnis and other students… witnessing the gift and sacrificial love of families through resident hall directors and their young families. The Benedictine monks and other religious sisters studying on campus helped me to see that total dedication to God was a joyful sacrifice of love.”

There were many elements of life on the faithful Catholic college campus that helped Sr. Bernadette Marie to be open to her vocation — a vocation which she had inklings of earlier in her life. But she says that she discerned her vocation “first and foremost in the silence of the chapels on the campus.”

After just two years at Benedictine College, Sr. Bernadette Marie left campus to begin a new adventure with the Nashville Dominicans, whose apostolate is Catholic education. The sisters, who wear long white habits, are dedicated to a life of prayer and have a strong sense of community. After additional formation, Sr. Bernadette Marie taught second grade students for several years, helping prepare them for their sacraments. Now she serves in the vocations office of her community, which allows her to meet with young women on college campuses who are “thirsting for the truth and a deeper relationship with Christ.”

When it comes to her own journey, Sr. Bernadette Marie is full of gratitude and “overwhelmed by the incredible gift” she received at a faithful Catholic college. “I knew that the Lord had to be calling me to something even better in the convent because I had been so happy at Benedictine,” she said.